ComplyAdvantage, a London-based regtech startup which uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to help firms meet AML and terrorst financing rules, has raised $8.2 million in a Series A funding round led by Balderton Capital.

Founded in 2014, ComplyAdvantage already claims some 200 clients for its feed of proprietary AML risk data, on-boarding screening and monitoring platform for KYC processes, and real-time transaction monitoring platform.

The firm says that its dynamic proprietary database, which covers sanctions and watchlists, politically exposed persons, and global adverse media lets it create structured profiles of high risk individuals and companies and their associates.

It already has offices in London and Romania which house around 50 staffers and is this week opening a New York site in preparation for an assault on the North American market.

Tim Bunting, general partner, Balderton Capital, says: “In compliance, we see lots of entrants with a new workflow, or user-interface tool that is just repackaging the same data. ComplyAdvantage is doing something different, by developing its own proprietary global data set of individuals and companies that pose a threat.”

Last month IBM agreed to buy risk management and regulatory compliance consulting firm Promontory Capital ahead of the creation of a new subsidiary, Watson Financial Services, in which it will use artificial intelligence technology to keep pace with the rapidly changing financial reporting landscape.